Scrapbooking has become a widespread hobby. National scrapbooking conventions now are being held in major cities and scrapbooking parties are being held at homes throughout the country. Indeed, it is estimated that scrapbooking is a three billion dollar per year industry.
Perhaps one of the attractions to scrapbooking is the exercise in creativity that is required in putting together a scrapbooking page. The typical scrapbooking page includes more than just photographs. Indeed, a number of additional scrapbooking elements almost always are included that enhance the presentation of the photographs. Such elements include, but are not limited to, souvenirs such as postcards, ticket stubs, and programs; clippings from newspapers and magazines; and commercial scrapbooking products. In this regard, commercial scrapbooking products include, for example, ornamental paper or framing for the photographs; stickers and cutouts having indicia pertaining in some way, for example, to the subject matter of the photographs; and other embellishments.
Due to the numerous elements that may be included on a page of a scrapbook, the layout and design of a scrapbooking page require not only creativity but also time. In working on a layout, a scrapbooker typically loosely places the elements on a scrapbooking page and arranges the elements in different configurations and orientations in searching for the final layout. Only once a final layout is decided upon will a scrapbooking usually begin permanently fixing the elements onto the scrapbooking page. The elements typically are permanently affixed using, for example, an adhesive, such as glue, or mechanical fasteners, such as rivets or grommets.
A consequent problem faced by many of today's scrapbookers at conventions and scrapbooking parties is that of insufficient time to complete a layout before the time for scrapbooking ends. This problem also occurs with an individual scrapbooker who does not have a dedicated table or desk for scrapbooking at his or her house. Often, such a scrapbooker is interrupted and must stop scrapbooking for some reason prior to finishing the layout.
In such situations, a scrapbooker typically will quickly sketch his or her intended design as of the moment that scrapbooking is to end. Based on the sketch, the scrapbooker is able to re-create the layout at the next scrapbooking session. Accordingly, the scrapbooker will take the elements of the layout and store them in the appropriate places and containers for the next scrapbooking session, thereby actually disassembling the page layout.
An alternative approach taken by scrapbookers is to simply place the draft scrapbooking page containing the layout having the loose elements thereon into a scrapbooking album and use the pages of the scrapbooking album to hopefully contain the scrapbooking elements on the draft scrapbooking page. This approach can be risky and requires delicate handling of the scrapbooking album, including maintaining the album in a generally horizontal orientation so that elements of the draft scrapbooking page do not fall out of the scrapbooking album and become disassociated from the draft scrapbooking page.
Alternatively, in such a situation a scrapbooker may simply abandon the layout only to start from scratch at the next scrapbooking session, thereby loosing whatever investment of time that has been spent in attempting to layout the elements of the draft scrapbooking page.
None of these alternatives presents an ideal solution for the scrapbooker, and a need exists by which scrapbookers may place their scrapbooking page designs on hold pending their return to scrapbooking, wherever and how ever long that may be.